Provido, Ronald Frederick BSCE

SS2EC10 (5-6pm MWF) Sept. 28, 2022

The movie started with John Denver and his fellow classmate practicing a dance choreography for the
upcoming Director’s day. In the movie it was shown that John Denver was getting bullied by one of his
classmate by pulling down his pants. This infuriated him and left while they were still practicing. So John
Denver went to their classroom to get his bag then went out to see his friends but before they could go they were
blocked by his classmate accusing him that he took the tablet from the classroom that was left by his classmate.
He tugged John Denver’s bag thinking that he hid the tablet in his bag. They were reprimanded by a faculty for
their shenanigans so they ran up to the rooftop. When they arrive upstairs his classmate was beaten up by John
Denver and a video was taken of that incident. Later that night the video was post online by one of his classmate
saying that John Denver was a bully and a thief for beating up their classmate and stealing that tablet. The post
went viral and forced the administration of the school to mediate with the incident. When John Denver arrive at
school he was called by the principal to talked about the incident, so he narrated what he knew yesterday, the
student who posted the video also narrated what he believed to be true. John Denver’s mother was called to
school to settle the incident. After the discussion the suspicion to John Denver worsen as they uncover his past
deeds which in turn made him more viral online as more stories pop up showing that he was a bully and a villain.
The story continued with both him and his mother going around places finding clues and help to prove his
innocence but all of it was for naught as they came up with nothing. Then came a controversial video passed by
farmer to a famous local media. In the video he mentioned that John Denver owed him P25,000 for killing his
buffalo and he saw him selling something to help his mother to pay off the debt. The media however spliced the
video to make it look like the farmer saw John Denver selling the tablet. This may be the turning point of the
movie as John Denver was going to school he was blocked by the faculty and a few policeman and was brought
to the precinct saying that the video was already an evidence proving the he was guilty. When they went to the
precinct he was accompanied by a social worker the put into a room and was left their alone. Then a police came
in and threatened him to confess what he did, the police even showed his gun to John Denver. This made him
really scared, when he got home he felt anxious and overwhelmed of what had happened to his life leading him
commit suicide.

The movie was so heart breaking as it show a lot of truth and issues that is happening in our society.
There are a few points that I’ve notice with regards to this movie as I gained enlightenment while watching it.
The first topic I’d like to discuss is regarding the overall computer and information literacy issues we had in our
country. The problem John Denver had first started with the post his classmate put online. It made a lot of
backlash in his reputation for being a bully. The crux of this issue though is that a lot of people judged him
directly without knowing the backstory or any more information regarding the incident. Filipinos loved jumping
into conclusion, without even verify their claims and even without thinking that they might hurt others with just
their words. I remember one incident that happened, it was December, 2018 a video went viral online of an
Ateneo student bullying his fellow schoolmate inside a bathroom in school campus. This sparked a lot of
reactions to the community as issue went viral. Although it was proven that the bully was spoiled and had bad
conduct inside the school. It didn’t change the fact that the child was traumatized with what happened after he
went viral. It’s so ironic that time that people hated bullying but unconsciously they were also bullying that
child.

Anything you put online might be deemed as the truth by some people who lack literacy in this kind of
platform. That’s why it is important to always keep in mind on what you put in the internet as it can be used as a
weapon meant to harm others. This also reminded me of what happened during the election days. A lot of
misinformation was disseminated online and lot of people fell into victim due to this misinformation. Without
any prior research for facts and proof this information keep spreading. It was a very toxic community.

Second point I would like to raise is how the police, authority and faculty conducted in the movie. Some
of the things they did was good as it sounded neutral but in the latter part of the movie, I was so infuriated of
what they did. They acted with their prejudice without even a proper investigation of the incident. Just because a
person had a history of misconduct doesn’t mean that any crime that he was a suspect would mean automatically
the he was guilty. The police jump into a conclusion because he knew the mother of the victim, the faculty was
pressured by the community to release a statement and forced to expelled John Denver without proving that he
actually did the deed, the authority were scared that if they were to opposed the opinion of the people that they
were blinded to seek the truth. It was very disappointing to witness such scene, what’s more scary is that this
depiction also happens in real life, I for example also experience this kind of prejudice from a policeman, I was a
victim that time but the police made it sound like it was my fault. Such a rotten system.

Lastly, weaponized media. It was apparent in the movie how media was used as a weapon to hurt
someone. The issue of John Denver never stopped with just the video of him beating up his classmate. The other
students of the school specially created a page that shows the bad deeds John Denver did at school. Although it
sounded like giving justice to the victims of his exploits, it is still wrong to defame someone just for some
revenge that’s not even punishable by the law. This action proves that social media and the internet is one of the
most powerful tool to strike a person. It can be seen that information is a vital element of one’s being in the
information age. It is a strength as it is a weakness. So be careful with sharing information, and be responsible
when using internet as it might harm others without you realizing.

Reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ateneo_bullying_incident
https://ps-engage.com/how-social-media-would-impact-the-upcoming-2022-national-elections-in-the-
philippines/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_warfare
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Age#:~:text=The%20Information%20Age%20(also
%20known,primarily%20based%20upon%20information%20technology.